The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

An obviously Photoshopped cluster of trees appears in the Netherlands. What is someone hiding, and how are they hacking Google Earth?

August 15 - Boing Boing

Google Streetview is slowly taking pictures of every street in the world, and capturing unexpected vignettes along the way like an Australian man passed out on his front lawn.

August 15 - Gawker

Next American City reviews a new book called <em>Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What it Says about Us)</em> by journalist Tom Vanderbilt, which follows in the footsteps of <em>Freakonomics</em> and <em>Blink</em>.

August 15 - The Next American City

The city of Austin considers a multi-billion dollar investment in a "biomass" power plant, burning wood waste in East Texas as a carbon-neutral, renewable energy source.

August 15 - Austin American-Statesman

Boise considers resurrecting their streetcar system after an 80 year absence.

August 15 - The Boise Weekly

With heating oil expected to be 36% more expensive, natural gas twice that amount, and LIHEAP funding lower than it was in the 1980s, there are grave warnings that the northeastern U.S. could be facing a "frozen Katrina" this winter.

August 15 - The Nation

In British Columbia, a proposal to require all new buildings to be carbon-neutral is being considered. The rule would require that buildings have no carbon footprint by 2020.

August 15 - The Globe and Mail

Allan Murray's architectural vision is habing a signficant influence on the future of development in Edinburgh. This column from <em>The Times</em> wonders if putting the future of a city in one man's hands is such a good idea.

August 15 - The Times

Foreclosure-stricken cities and states are looking forward to receiving federal relief funding. Their plans for using the funding vary.

August 15 - The Christian Science Monitor

A Washington D.C. project to clean up and repair dilapidated buildings in the city is coming under scrutiny for shoddy work and millions of dollars in public money that are virtually unaccounted for.

August 15 - The Washington Post

BLOG POST

<p> &nbsp; </p> <p> Costco may be <a href="http://www.nysun.com/new-york/costco-eyes-a-manhattan-site-but-draws-political/82797/" target="_blank">coming to Manhattan</a>, bringing 2300 parking spaces with it.

August 14 - Diana DeRubertis

Outside Magazine looks at the best cities and towns for working, living and playing, with a focus on places that have experienced a renewal.

August 14 - Outside Magazine

Roebling, New Jersey is a company town built around a steel wire factory. But founder John A. Roebling had a few ideas about making a community there, as a new museum attests.

August 14 - The Princeton Packet

At last count, the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse includes six regular bike commuters including up-and-coming pitcher Jeremy Guthrie.

August 14 - The Baltimore Sun

The only modern building in Rome's historic center, a Richard Meier designed museum, is considered offensive enough that it may not last in its current form.

August 14 - Reuters

Manufacturing still matters, and what manufacturers want hasn't changed much. The question is whether a "new economy" state like California can compete in the old economy.

August 14 - California Planning and Development Report

The American trend of "fractional ownership", a real estate concept in which a number of investors own fractions of vacation homes, has moved to Europe.

August 14 - International Herald Tribune

A foreclosed property in Detroit was recently put on the market at a selling price of just one dollar.

August 14 - The Detroit News

A new report from the Metropolitan Planning Council pegs the annual cost of congestion to the Chicago region at $7.3 billion.

August 14 - Streetsblog

New modeling software could soon be available that would allow monitoring across the internet of flood levels in specific areas- like your backyard.

August 14 - Popular Mechanics